1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to filtration equipment, and more particularly, to a modular filtration system.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Various filtration systems have been developed for water purification, waste reclamation, fruit drink preparation or other solid/liquid separation. The filtration systems have included different sizes of filtration media that vary with the nature and size of the solids to be removed from the liquid phase. In these filtration systems, however, the flow path typically becomes occluded as the solids accumulate on the filter media. When the filtration system has become occluded, the filters must either be backwashed or removed from service in order to remove the accumulated solids.
One problem in filter systems is that the process must be interrupted to backwash the system. When backwashing or removing the system from service, the process is interrupted or shut-down to remove the accumulated solids from the filter media. The flow is diverted to a holding state or a recycle flow during the solids removal creating a backlog in the process. Additionally, once restarted, the flow must be tested to determine that the particles in the effluent are within the desired limits.
Another problem that exists in filtration systems is that the media becomes mixed during the backwashing or solids removal. Typically, the filter system includes a chamber having media that is varied from coarse to fine material. The flow starts with a coarse media to remove the larger solids, then trickles down to the finer media to remove the smaller particles. After the system has been backwashed, however, the media is mixed when the backwash flow pushes the finer media up through the coarse media. The backwash flow can also push the filter media to the edges of the chamber creating a short circuit through the media. Thus, after each backwashing, the filtration system can be rendered less effective.